Northshire Grown: Direct Update

by Liz Ruffa, Advancement Director

Merck Forest has continued to support the local food economy through the management of Northshire Gown: Direct, the direct-toconsumer food platform that was launched in Dorset in April, 2020, as a Covid-19 response pilot to help farmers and producers recoup business due to shuttered farmers markets and sales outlets during the Pandemic. NG:D established a single point of contact supply and demand system that allowed for safe food delivery during Coviod, allowing for ease of use and comfort. This initiative provided producers with a new sales channel for their food that has continued throughout 2021, thanks to interest on both supply and demand sides.

NG:D moved from the Dorset Playhouse to the Marble House Project in June and we have loved working out of their amazing Event Barn. We have produced 6 markets there to date, with two more to go! These markets have offered delicious and nutritious food to almost two thousand customers – those sheltering in place during Covid, local individuals and families, people who moved to the area during the Pandemic, summer residents. We initiated a Neighbors in Need program which, through customer philanthropy, has delivered hundreds of boxes loaded with local fare to area families in need of extra food support. Farmers and customers alike all appreciate how Merck Forest has stepped up and provided the administration necessary to make these markets happen.

What really made NG:D so successful? The amazing team of volunteers, led initially by Mara Hearst and then by Heidi Lynn and Maria Reade, who have worked tirelessly, efficiently and enthusiastically to make each market run seamlessly and do such good for so many. Stalwart volunteers include Marilyn Brockway, Karin Karol, Marsha Key, Susan Romano and Jennifer Taylor, among others. Merck Forest is grateful beyond measure for the time, energy and dedication that this dream team has graciously gifted to NG:D’s success.

As a mission-driven nonprofit corporation, Merck Forest and Farmland Center relies on your financial support to connect people to the land in rich and meaningful ways. With the arrival of the fall season, so too comes our Annual Fund campaign. The Annual Fund, our largest fundraising effort each year, provides us with the financial resources necessary to do our work. In the following pages, you will find a preview of this year’s letter (including some details about some of what what we’ve accomplished in 2021 and have planned for 2022).

Keep your eye on your mailbox in October for the traditional appeal letter. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to send any questions to Liz Ruffa, MFFC’s Director of Advancement at liz@merckforest.org.

October 2021

Dear Friends,

On a recent visit to the Mettawee Community School, a third-grader confided in me that the first thing he does upon arriving in his classroom is to closely examine his teacher’s footwear. His favorite days, he shared, are those when “her shoes aren’t fancy.” When I asked him why, he explained that boots mean they’ll be headed outside.

At the time, I smirked and told him I hoped she’d have her boots on that day. Later, as I headed back up the mountain to the Visitor Center, the full weight of his statement hit me. Here, in the midst of a still-raging pandemic, with the climate crisis feedback loop tightening, this young fellow is starting his days with hope—hope that he would experience the simple joy of heading out into the woods.

It is because of your involvement with Merck Forest & Farmland Center that this student and his classmates have the opportunity to spend countless hours building forts, hiking, investigating nature, and developing their own personal land ethic on our 148-acre satellite campus adjacent to his school. Through your support, hundreds of children from around the region are able to explore our hill-top farm and working forest on field trips, at workshops and in summer camps. Your generosity and commitment to our mission – to inspire curiosity, love and responsibility for natural and working lands – ensures that over 15,000 visitors a year are able to meet the animals, hike trails, experience the splendor of a setting sun, spend a night under the stars, pick berries, watch birds, explore the pond, wade in the creek, and more.

These experiences matter. It is clearer than ever that it is time to for us to collectively re-engage with the natural world. We can no longer take the systems and processes that shape this blue and green orb that is our collective home for granted. We must share our love of its azure skies and rugged hills, and from that place of love, champion its protection.

On behalf of the staff and trustees here at Merck Forest & Farmland Center, thank you for helping us do this critical work. The Annual Fund provides our team with the resources necessary to steward these hills, fields, and forests so that all who come can experience the contentment and hope afforded by time spent in the natural world.

Your support of our Annual Fund, at whatever level you are able, keeps our gates perpetually open to all, strengthening visitors’ connections to natural and working lands. Your contribution helps ensure that we are able to work towards providing a healthy future for all species both here on our hilltop home and beyond. For that, we are deeply grateful.

See you up on the mountain!

Sincerely,

Rob Terry Executive Director

MFFC staff and trustees work from a dynamic Strategic Plan that focuses on five core objectives intended to position the institution as a leading regional resource for nature exploration, outdoor learning, and environmentally sound forest and farmland management. MFFC’s current strategic goals are to:

• Invigorate the working landscape

• Bolster protection of the landscape’s natural systems

• Deepen connections with MFFC visitors and surrounding communities

• Champion individual and institutional climate smart action, and

• Accelerate organizational development

To meet these objectives in 2021, MFFC:

• engaged two Americorps volunteers through the Student Conservation Association, a 2021 UVM Forestry/ Geospatial Technologies graduate, a current Vassar College student and two Burr and Burton Academy students (1,221 hours) to assist with conservation projects, cabin & trail maintenance and educational initiatives

• expanded Connected Taconics, a High Meadows Fund supported initiative championing 42,000 acres of un-fragmented forest in the Taconic Mountain range (in which MFFC sits at the northern tip) through mapping, analysis and outreach to 350 regional landowners

• more than tripled summer camp attendance and continued to serve the area’s food shed through Northshire Grown: Direct markets

• installed a 15-kilowatt solar array on our Saphouse roof and established new partnerships to identify strategies to efficiently sequester and store above and below-ground carbon on property

• launched the drafting of a comprehensive 10-year master plan that will enhance on-property recreation, facilities and educational offerings

To continue this work in 2022, MFFC will:

• begin to redesign the farm campus to better demonstrate regenerative agriculture and sustainable forestry

• complete new 10-year farm and forest management plans that focus on increased potential for agricultural and forest products, ecosystem services and sound habitat stewardship